1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicular sun visors, and, more particularly, this invention relates to a pivot rod for use with a sun visor having a lighted vanity mirror.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pivot rods for vehicle sun visors are used to mount the visor to the vehicle roof through a mounting bracket. Typically, as shown in our U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,983, the pivot rod is L-shaped. The shorter leg of the L-shaped pivot rod is received in the mounting bracket for rotation of the rod to swing the sun visor from a windshield position to a side window position. The longer leg of the L-shaped rod carries the visor for pivotal motion between a storage position adjacent to the vehicle roof to a use position shading the sunlight from the occupants, to a position in which the visor is parallel to the windshield.
When the sun visor has a lighted vanity mirror, it is necessary to make and electrical connection between the vehicle battery and the lights mounted in the sun visor. Typically, a single lead has been brought through the mounting bracket and pivot rod or through a counter bearing at the end of the visor opposite to the pivot rod, and the ground connection is supplied through the vehicle frame. Where a single lead has been brought through the mounting bracket it is normally routed out of the elbow member of the pivot rod directly to the lighting circuit. In other cases where the lead passes through the horizontal axle portion of the pivot rod, the axle portion and pivot elbow are two separate pieces to permit such an assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,864 brings the hot lead through a counter bearing to avoid the extremely expensive machining operation to bring the lead through the pivot shaft and the high assembly costs. The ground is through the metal pivot shaft and a metal reinforcing frame work in the visor. An alternative is also shown bringing both leads through the counter bearing. With either construction, the user must position the visor and effect snapping the counter bearing into a mounting clip to receive power for the lights.
In our U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,839 we show a unique pivot rod constructed by injection insert molding a metal tube at the center of a plastic pivot rod. The metal tube forms one of the input leads to the lighting circuit, and a wire inside the tube forms the other input power lead to the lighting circuit.
With the ever increasing sophistication of electronic equipment in vehicles, a need has emerged for supplying both leads to the visor without resorting to the frame ground of the vehicle.